Ringwood State Park - Ringwood Manor

Ringwood Travel Blog

Ringwood State Park is located in the most northern section of the State of New Jersey. Just a few hundred meters / yards away from the border with New York State. Unlike most of the state this area is (with all respect) not densely inhabited and not full of roads, houses and shopping malls. The area contains forests, hills, small ponds, streams, and a collection of monumental manors, like Skylands Manor, that I visited earlier this year (see here).

I had even visited the park twice this year (see here for the other visit). In both cases I had started a hike but was forced to abort it because I ran out of daylight. It had been horrible weather the past weeks keeping me inside, today, very sunny, was the only day I would have the possibility to do one more (and last) hike in 2012.

Gardens of Ringwood Manor

I decided to make it a short one, and in this specific Ringwood area.

The Ringwood estate was once owned by rich iron masters. Iron industry had been in this region for a long time. General George Washington acknowledged the importance of the area and was a guest at the estate. In 1807 the new owner of the Ironworks, Martin J. Ryerson, started the construction of a manor. This Ringwood Manor was sold several times and expanded several times. In 1950 it was donated to the State of New Jersey and became Ringwood State Park. The house is 69 meters (226.5 feet) long and contains 24 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, 28 bedrooms and more than 250 windows!

With a nice sunny and fresh day a perfect setting for a short but effective hike.